Coven
A Coven is a name used to describe a gathering of witches. A coven is generally a group of twelve or more witches who occasionally meet to practice magic, celebrate sacred holidays and discuss topics on witchcraft. As shown on several occasions, covens have a leader and followers. In New Orleans, there are at least nine covens, all of which have detailed rules of conduct and leaders known as Elders. To earn the title of an Elder, a witch must have the power bestowed upon them by another Elder, or, in the case where there are no Elders to pass on the power, the witch in question must be able to consecrate the mortal remains of a powerful witch, as shown by the witch Sophie Deveraux, who became an Elder after consecrating the remains of Esther Mikaelson. ''The Vampire Diaries'' In Season Four, Bonnie, with the intention of completing the Expression Triangle, asked her mother Abby for help in contacting twelve witches to "cleanse" her of Expression magic. Aja, a former friend of Abby, met with Bonnie in the place she requested, along with the other eleven witches in her coven. attends the place where Bonnie requested the presence of witches. Aja along with her friends mentioned that they have experience in dealing with witches consumed by Expression. When the members of the coven all linked themselves to Aja to give her additional strength, Caroline, not wanting them to kill her best friend, killed Aja by stabbing her, which in turn killed every witch who was linked to her. In Graduation, Aja, along with her coven, returned to the world of the living to take revenge against Caroline and her friends for being complicit in their murders. Since the veil between the Other Side and the living world was temporarily lowered, Aja and her coven were able to use their magic to cast pain infliction spells on Caroline, Stefan and Elena. However, Niklaus appeared and killed Aja, effectively scaring away the rest of the witches and preventing them from doing further harm. In Season Five, a group witches called The Travelers were introduced. Because of their predilection for performing their magic in groups as a result of an ancient curse placed upon their people two millennia prior, the Travelers could be considered a very large coven. In Season Six, The Gemini Coven is introduced. This is an old coven, at least as old as the Travelers, that has a specific ritual for choosing their leaders known as the Merge ceremony. In this ceremony, when a set of twins in the coven reaches the age of 22, the two twins perform the Merge during a celestial event, in which the stronger twin essentially kills the weaker twin in order to absorb their magical powers and certain personality traits, doubling their strength. Once the ritual is complete, the stronger twin then becomes the leader of the coven. The coven's leader upon their introduction to the series was Joshua Parker, who was meant to be succeeded by one of his eldest twins, Malachai or Josette. However, due to several factors (namely, Malachai's mental instability and his unique ability to absorb the magic of other witches without the capability to possess his own, which led his parents to call him an "abomination"), Joshua and his wife determined that Malachai was unfit to lead the coven and decided to keep having more children until they had another set of twins to replace them. Eventually, they succeeded, and Olivia Parker and Lucas Parker were born solely with the intention of taking his place as coven leader. Unfortunately, despite Joshua's best efforts, Malachai ended up performing the Merge ceremony anyway, beating and killing his brother Luke, absorbing his ability to possess his own magic as well as Luke's ability to be empathetic and remorseful, and became the leader of the Gemini Coven. ''The Originals'' In ''Always and Forever'', the show introduced the French Quarter Coven, a community of witches in the French Quarter who practice ancestral magic. It is assumed that the coven has existed for quite a long time, due to their tradition of the Harvest, a ritual that the ancestral witches perform every three hundred years in order to strengthen the link they have to their ancestors, on whom they draw for strength.The show introduces the New Orleans Coven of witches. In this episode, members of the coven, led by Sophie Deveraux, manipulate the newly-returned Original vampires Niklaus and Elijah Mikaelson into helping them overthrow the vampire leader Marcel Gerard, who had been holding the witches in subjugation and forbidding them to practice magic. Members of this coven proved to be both major antagonists and allies throughout the first season. In the second season, it was revealed that there are actually nine major covens in New Orleans, including the Tremé Coven, the Algiers Coven, the 9th Ward Coven, and the Garden District Coven. It is insinuated that at least some of these covens also practice ancestral magic, though it's likely they also practice other forms of magic as well. A former witch of the Tremé Coven, Eva Sinclair, intended to complete a ritual known as the Rite of Nines that involved channeling and eventually sacrificing one witch from each of the nine covens in New Orleans in order to create a "new witch order" in the city. It was believed that had Eva been successful in completing the ritual, she would have been more powerful than any Elder or Harvest girl. Known Covens *Aja's Coven (Destroyed) *The Travelers (Destroyed) *The Gemini Coven (Destroyed) *French Quarter Coven *The Kindred * The Voodoo Queens (Destroyed) * The Tremé Coven * The Garden District Coven * The Ninth Ward Coven * The Algiers Coven Leaders Known Leaders: Esther.png|Esther † Vlcsnap-2013-04-22-14h43m58s250.png|Aja † Bastiana.png|Bastianna Natale † Papa Tunde.png|Papa Tunde † New Orleans Coven Members (3).png|Agnes † Genev.png|Genevieve † Celeste profile.png|Celeste Dubois † Josephine.png|Josephine LaRue (Regent) † MarkosS5.jpg|Markos † 6X08-72-Joshua.jpg|Joshua Parker (Formerly) MalachaiParker.png|Malachai Parker Members Known Members: Aja-Coven (1).png|Aja-Coven † Aja-Coven (2).png|Aja-Coven † Aja-Coven (3).png|Aja-Coven † Aja-Coven (4).png|Aja-Coven † Aja-Coven (5).png|Aja-Coven † Aja-Coven (6).png|Aja-Coven † Aja-Coven (7).png|Aja-Coven † Vlcsnap-2013-04-26-10h17m48s125.png|Jane-Anne Deveraux † Jessica-simpson-sleeveless-harper-flag-print-tank-and-the-originals-gallery.png|Sophie Deveraux † New Orleans Coven Members (2).png|Sabine † Katie 2 TO 1x02.jpg|Katie † Moniquedeverauxx.jpg|Monique Deveraux † Fashion-union-cream-tunic-beaded-party-dress-and-the-originals-gallery.png|Davina Claire Davina's mother.png|Mrs. Claire † 250px-Abigail 2.png|Abigail † EstherCassie.png|Cassie † Powers and Abilities By tapping into supernatural and elemental forces, witches possess a host of magical abilities. With experience, age, and adequate training in witchcraft, these powers will grow stronger. *'Spell Casting:' The act of changing and controlling events by magical influence. *'Channeling:' The act of channeling or drawing other forms of energy and power by focusing on celestial events. *'Conjuration:' The act of calling, commanding, or summoning an element, object, person, or spirit already in existence. *'Elemental Control:' The act of controlling and manipulating the elements of air, earth, fire and water. *'Mind Control:' The act of controlling and manipulating the minds of humans. (Similar to Compulsion) *'Mind Stunning:' The act of bemusing and rendering someone unconscious. *'Pain Infliction:' The act of creating and inflicting excruciating pain upon another person, especially vampires, however we seen some older vampires can resist it, according to Katherine she said i been around for a long time, or so many witches use the same magic on her, so many times, she developed a immunity to it. *'Precognition:' The act of foreseeing future events and happenings. *'Telekinesis:' The act of controlling and manipulating the movements of objects and persons. *'Potion-making:' The act of brewing and concocting supernatural elixirs and potions that contain mystical properties. *'Manipulation Immunity': The act of resisting forms of supernatural manipulation. *'Longevity': The act of temporarily extending one's lifespan. *'Link': The members of a Coven can join magical powers and give direct access to a great power to the leader of the group. Weaknesses *'Mortality:' Based off the fact that witches are still (more or less) human, they share many of the same weaknesses as non-supernatural beings (e.g. age, decapitation, disease, heart-failure, suffocation, etc.) *'Overuse Of Magic:' The excessive use of magic could lead to several ailments such as nosebleeds, headaches, fainting and in extreme cases death. *'Immortality': Becoming an immortal being such as a vampire will cause a witch to lose all magical ability. *'Link': If members of a coven are linked, it is possible to destroy the entire group with the death of a single member. Although a member may have the powers of all members of the Coven, the rest of the group is vulnerable and any damage to a single member, will be transferred to others, including death. Trivia *The word was originally a late medieval Scots word (circa 1500) meaning a gathering of any kin according to the Oxford English Dictionary. It derives from the Latin root word convenire meaning to come together or to gather, which also gave rise to the English word convene. The first recorded use of it being applied to witches comes much later, from 1662 in the witch-trial of Isobel Gowdie, which describes a coven of thirteen members. The word coven remained largely unused in English until 1921 when Margaret Murray promoted the idea, now much disputed, that all witches across Europe met in groups of thirteen which they called "covens." *College professor Sheila Bennett and Dr. Jonas Martin mentioned that the Bennett Family comes from Salem, Massachusetts. Salem is well known for their history of persecuting witches, including the Salem Witch Trials. *Traditionally, there are thirteen witches in a coven, one leader, and twelve members. *The term "coven" was originally created to give a name to a group of witches, but at present, the term is also used for a group of vampires, as well as "clan" and "den." * If the leader of the Gemini Coven dies, the rest of the members die as well. * It is confirmed there are nine covens in new Orleans.[1] ** According to what was said by Vincent in City Beneath the Sea, the nine covens of New Orleans are specialized in different branches of magic: Ancestral, Sacrificial, Representational, Voodoo, Hoodoo, Necromancy to name a few. * The covens of New Orleans are headed by a single witch, known as Regent, who is the voice and the will of the ancestors and has access to the totality of the ancestors of all nine covens. ** This role until now had been covered by Josephine LaRue, now the witches would elect Vincent Griffith as the new Regent but man proposes to Davina to take that role. **Davina Claire took up this role in Fire with Fire when she convinced them to make her the new Regent. See also Category:Witches Category:Supernatural Category:Deceased Category:Ghosts Category:Groups Category:Characters